Ascension
by corahaale
Summary: Willow Grady has never gotten along with her dad. Probably because he cares more about his stupid raptors than he does her and her brother. Anyways, she is not happy when she gets shipped off to Jurassic World to see him during her holiday break without her brother. What she doesn't know, though, is that future events will change her relationship with her dad, for better or worse.
1. A Flight to Hell

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my first chapter of my Jurassic World story, Ascension! It has taken Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to come out for me to finally start writing this chapter and hopefully post it tonight. I hope you all enjoy my girl, Willow Grady, and her journey in the story. Let's get going!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Jurassic World. I only own Willow and Jonathan Grady, as well as Adelaide Dresdner.**

"Alright, do you have everything that you need?"

There was absolute silence in response to the question.

"You know, you can't be mad at me forever. At some point, you're going to have to talk to me."

Once again, silence was the response.

In the middle of JFK airport stood three people. Two of them, one a boy whose blonde hair was in a bun and the other a woman with shoulder length red hair, were trying to get the third, a mini-me of the woman, to talk to them with unsuccessful results.

Willow Grady was angry: angry with her mother for sending her away during her break from school, angry at her brother for not coming with her on this hellhole trip, and angry with her father for being an absolute douchebag for ignoring her and her brother in favor of his stupid dinosaurs.

She had been fully expecting to be able to spend her winter break just chilling with her dog, work on her art, play basketball with her friends, and riding her horse. But no, her mother just had to book a trip for her to go see her dumbass father, who won't even pay attention to her because he'll be too busy training his precious raptors.

"C'mon Will," pleaded Jonathan Grady as he pulled her into a hug. "I promise you, this is a last minute thing. Otherwise, I would be on that plane with you."

Willow pulled out from his embrace, glaring at him full-blast. "Are you fucking kidding me, Jon?"

"Language!" admonished Adelaide Dresdner, giving her daughter an angry look.

"You'd rather hang out with your stupid friends than save me from this hellhole," Willow continued as though her mother hadn't even spoken.

"That's not true, and you know it!"

"Enough!" exclaimed Adelaide, her voice carrying over the two siblings' bickering. "Look Willow, whether you like it or not, you are going to see your father, and I would like you to try and make an effort into at least spending time with him."

This time, it was Adelaide who was bearing the full-frontal attack of her daughter's glare. "You should know better than anyone, _mother_ , that the douchebag you call my father is not going to spend one ounce of time with me."

"I have made him promise that he would spend time with you," said Adelaide tiredly. "Plus, as soon as you arrive in the park, he'll be picking you up."

Willow let out a scoff. "Oh please, that's like saying Santa Claus is real. You know that he's going to forget that I'm even coming because he'll be too busy with his precious raptors."

She said the word 'raptors' as though it were poison.

Jon sent a look to their mother as if to say 'she has a point', and as a response, Adelaide just let loose a sigh and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Just try to be nice, okay? I'll make it up to you when you come back."

"Sure you will," muttered Willow.

Her mother ignored her jab, and pulled backed to let her son hug his sister goodbye.

"I really am sorry," Jon said as he hugged Willow to him once more.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she murmured while reluctantly wrapping her arms around his waist.

They stood like that for a few minutes before he pulled back and said, "Don't forget to give that awful assistant of that lady who looks like Mom hell, okay?"

A mischievous smile spread over Willow's otherwise blank face. "Oh, you know I will."

"Good."

With that, he let Will go and, with Adelaide, watched as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and got in line for check-in.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" his mother asked quietly next to him.

"If Dad doesn't mess it up in some way, then yeah. Willow's strong Mom, she doesn't take shit from anyone. Least of all, Dad."

Adelaide shot Jon a look for his swearing, but she still couldn't help but worry. Her daughter has a _very_ strong personality (which she got from both her and her father), and when it collided with another strong personality (like Owen's), it usually ended in explosions of anger.

She just hoped that Willow would be able to stay out of trouble while at Jurassic World. But, knowing her daughter, trouble will most likely find her.

* * *

She had been wanting for a couple of hours now, but Willow was now in her seat on the airplane that would be leading her to her doom. Luckily, she had stuffed her backpack with every type of junk food imaginable from a bag of barbecue chips to a _huge_ bag of Sour Patch Kids (they speak to her mood). Plus, she also managed to get a Venti coffee from Starbucks that was pitch black (like her soul).

As she was sitting in her seat, waiting for the plane to take off and debating just bolting out of there, Willow contemplated just how she managed to get roped into this mess. Everyone in her inner circle knew just how much she was not a fan of her father. Once upon a time, she worshipped the ground he walked on. Then, he got that goddamn job at Jurassic World, training the raptors and analyzing their behaviors.

At first, it had been cool observing her father work with them. She and Jon had managed to even bond with the raptors when they were first hatched. The beta of the pack, Blue, had taken a real shining to Will, and whenever she visited, would follow her around, always chirping like a little bird.

But then, Owen would be too busy working, analyzing the raptors' behaviors and trying to train them further. Slowly, Will had begun to resent the creatures that had bonded with her, Jon, and her dad. She had stopped coming to see them whenever she visited the park, and if anyone wanted to find her, they would find her with Rexy, the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the first Jurassic Park attempt. Willow always had a huge fascination with T. Rexes, and the first time she had seen her when she first visited, she knew that she had found her muse.

Now, whenever someone was in her room, they would see a bunch of sketches of Rexy hanging up on her red walls as well as sketches of New York, her friends, her family, and her pets. To be honest, Rexy was the only reason she continued to go to Jurassic World. It definitely wasn't because of her father, although the stories that her aunt Lex and uncle Tim had told her about Rexy weren't necessarily the greatest at painting a good picture of the dinosaur.

It would probably surprise a lot of people to know that Lex Murphy, granddaughter of the late John Hammond and avid protester of Jurassic World, just happened to be Willow's godmother. She had met Will's mom in college when they were paired together as roommates, and from there on out, the two of them were best friends. She had been the one to introduce Willow to art since she owns her own art gallery (which surprises folks because she also has a reputation for being a notorious hacker). Everyone saw her as John Hammond's blood and a victim of the first park, but to Will, she was her aunt Lex who taught her how to paint and, underneath her quiet demeanor, had a wicked sense of humor.

She wished that she could have stopped her mother from sending her to Jurassic World, but Lex was visiting another art gallery to look at more paintings, which meant Willow was on her own.

The captain's voice jolted her out of her thoughts to announce to everyone to put on their seatbelts, make sure their trays were up, yada yada. As soon as the plane was moving and up into the air, Will put on her blue Beats headphones and selected the song that fitted her mood perfectly. As she looked out the window, she slowly fell asleep to the lyrics of Highway to Hell, and dreamt of what her trip would look like as soon as the plane landed in Costa Rica.

 **That would be the end of Chapter 1 folks! Just so everyone knows, Will's face claim is Katherine McNamara, while Jon's is Alexander Ludwig and Adelaide's is Jessica Chastain. Oh, and that stuff about Lex owning her own art gallery, I read that the actress who plays Lex actually owns an art gallery in real life. So, I figured "Why not make that Lex's career and give her something to bond with Will over?" However, she still is a hacker. I could never erase that from Lex's character. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section, and see you next time for Ch. 2!**


	2. Welcome to Hades

**Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter 2 of Ascension! I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. I have wanted to write Willow's story for such a long time, but never could find the right flow to start it. Now that I have, I am so excited to continue forward with you all and hear your thoughts! Let's move forward!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Jurassic World. I only own Willow and Jonathan Grady, as well as Adelaide Dresdner.**

As soon as they touched down in Costa Rica, Willow managed to grab her backpack in the rush to get off the plane. She found her way to baggage claim, where she picked up her suitcase, and went outside to the muggy and stifling air to look for the shuttle that would take her to her doom.

It wasn't that hard to find it. The big _Jurassic World_ logo on the side of the shuttle made it real easy to find. Once she boarded and sat in her seat, Willow observed the people who were also going to the park. Most were families, ones with little kids who were squealing excitedly about seeing the triceratops and going to the petting zoo etc. It made her really annoyed; happiness always makes her go deeper into the dark pit known as Hell.

She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't notice the shuttle had left the airport and was almost to the port where the boat was waiting. When the shuttle pulled into the port, it stopped so suddenly that Willow was literally jolted from her thoughts right into the back of the seat in front of her. She rubbed her nose while glaring up at the bus driver. What a horrible driver! If she could, she would sock him right in his stupid face!

Quickly grabbing her things, she rushed off the bus so she could get onto the boat before the big rush. Luckily, Willow managed to get to the front before anyone else. It was packed to the brim by the time it left port, making her feel incredibly claustrophobic.

The excruciating heat wasn't exactly helping matters either, so she rolled up the sleeves of her red plaid shirt to give herself a little relief. Her long red hair kept on sticking to the back of her neck as well, which left her to pull it up into a ponytail. Finally, in order to avoid the glare of the sun, Willow pulled out her Ray's Band sunglasses from her backpack and put them over her eyes.

Ah, much better.

This was another thing that she hated when she went to visit her father. The intense island warmth. She was _not_ a summer person by any means (Fall was by far her favorite season). Plus, because of her red hair and her pale skin, she burned so easily that she ended up looking like a tomato.

While staring out into the ocean and wishing that she could paint that beautiful aqua color, Will felt the back of her neck prickle with the feeling of being watched. Slightly turning her head to the right, she looked up to see two boys, one with dark hair and one with dirty blonde.

The dark-haired one was staring at her intensely, and it looked like he was puffing himself up to make himself look more macho or something.

He looked ridiculously stupid.

Willow glared at him, gave the finger, and turned towards the ocean again. She managed to glimpse the shocked expression on the dark-haired one's face while turning. What put a small smile on her face, however, was the positively gleeful look the blonde was sporting at her response to the other's antics.

Will could instantly tell that the two boys were related to each other (they had similar features, which meant that they were either brothers or cousins). She observed out of the corner of her eye how the younger boy was trying to get the attention of the older, but he kept on ignoring him in order to eye-flirt with bimbos.

That made Willow even angrier. Jon would never do that to her. He would always try to include her with whatever he and his friends were doing, and would always ask her opinion on anything as well.

To be honest, she lucked out with having Jon as an older brother.

A huge wave of guilt and loneliness washed over her, and in that moment, she pulled out her phone and texted him saying she was sorry and that she missed him.

As soon as she read Jon's response (he said that he was sorry as well, and that he missed her too), the boat pulled into the dock where the monorail was waiting to take them to the park. Will grabbed the handle of her suitcase, and started walking towards the exit.

While walking off the plank, she fell right behind the two boys from earlier. Overhearing the younger boy ask how much the island weighed in order to hold all the dinosaurs made Willow's heart warm at his endearing nature. It made her resolve right then and there that if she saw those two again, she would take the younger boy under her wing.

Then, she spotted someone she loathed even more than her father. " _Shit!_ " she hissed while quickly slipping past them. Will hoped that she could avoid Zara Young, the assistant of Claire Dearing, who was the operation's manager of Jurassic World. However, it looked the world was throwing her a curve ball.

When Willow first met Zara, the wave of dislike was so strong that she thought she would stumble at how powerful it was. The woman was one cold-hearted bitch, and whenever she and Jon could, they would try to play a bunch of practical jokes on her. One time, they managed to put pink dye in her shampoo bottle without her knowing. Zara went on a rage rant when she saw the result, and the siblings bowed at each other's feet in praise.

Now Claire, on the other hand, wasn't as bad as most people think she is. Sure, she wasn't the warm and loving type, but Will knew that she cared. She had witnessed it once when she was with Rexy, quietly sketching the dinosaur in her corner as shadows covered her profile. Hearing the click-clack of heels walking in, she had looked up to see her fellow redhead walk over to the viewing glass. _Probably to inspect the paddock,_ she had thought at the time. It was a shock to her system, however, when she saw Claire put a hand up to the glass and actually mutter the words, "I'm sorry."

Her face was the picture of sadness, and it was the only time Willow had ever seen the operations manager express it.

That moment made her see that Claire did have a heart; she just had to hide it because she was in a man's world, and she couldn't show any weakness when it came to her job.

A push from a child who passed her in excitement get on the train helped Will to see that she managed to (thankfully) avoid Zara seeing her. However, she was surprised to see the two boys from the boat stop in front of the assistant with looks of resignation on their faces. She also managed to get a look of what was typed on the tablet in the Ice Queen's hands.

 _Zach and Gray Mitchell,_ thought Willow. It took her a minute, but then…

 _Wait; doesn't Ms. Dearing have two nephews named Zach and Gray?_

She did overhear Claire mentioning them to one of the workers when she was inspecting Rexy's paddock.

Hmm… She wondered if the two of them were forced here against their will. Of course, the younger brother (whom she assumed was Gray, based on the order of their names) seemed completely excited to be here.

Zach, however, looked like he rather be anywhere else but here. Maybe, they have more in common than she originally thought. But, Will still didn't like the way he treated Gray, and she was going to rip him a new one if she saw them again.

Moving quickly, the redhead snuck onto the monorail before the group of three could see her, and grabbed a seat near the back. In a moment of sheer genius, her hands rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a worn Red Cardinals hat that used to be her brother's, and jammed it over her head in an effort to hide the bright red hair from Zara's prying eyes (thanks for cursing her with red hair, Mom!)

Luckily, the Mitchell siblings and the Ice Queen were a couple seats ahead of her, so they wouldn't have been able to see her unless they turned around. Knowing she was safe, Willow breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back into her chair. Restlessness washed over her after a few minutes, so she flipped back open her backpack and took out her sketchbook and trusty charcoal pencil. Sketching did help pass the time for Will, and it was also therapeutic in a way.

Looking around for a subject, nothing particularly caught her attention until her eyes landed back onto the Mitchells. Gray was bouncing in his seat, his face the definition of excitement. Zach, however, contrasted him with his cool indifference. During the time that Will was not looking at them, he had slid his headphones over his ears and was looking out the window, the picture of complete boredom.

Oh dear god, that contrast between the two just screamed _Draw Me!  
_

She had found her new subjects.

Immediately going to work, Willow began sketching Gray first because his excitement just lit up the atmosphere, and she wanted to capture it just right. She started off by sketching the outline of his face, and filling in the details once finished. Soon, the boy's wavy hair and beam of anticipation began to take shape.

While the noise started to build as people began to board, Will barely even noticed as she was in her own little artist bubble. She just continued to sketch like her life depended on it. In fact, she was so into her drawing that she didn't even notice the monorail leaving the station and heading towards the park.

Once finished drawing Gray, Willow lifted up her pencil and smiled proudly down at her work. His little head looked as though it was moving with the jolt of the train, and he was staring ahead at the unknown, face drawn up in anticipation.

Next, she began to draw Zach's profile. She drew his body facing toward the outside in a relaxed manner, and yet, tensed. The face soon came into fruition not long after, blank of emotion in comparison to Gray's emotional profile. His eyes, however, told a different story to her drawing.

Zach looked…lonely.

He looked as though he had a front on him that kept others from seeing how he really felt.

Once the drawing was finished, Willow put her pencil back into her backpack and just stared down at her finished product. Seeing how standoffish Zach looked in real life and comparing that to what she drew…

Maybe she shouldn't have judged him too quickly…

(It actually was a bad habit of hers. Will really needed to learn how to control her hot-headedness.)

By the time she had looked up again, the monorail had finally come to a stop at the entrance of Jurassic World. Getting up, she watched as Zara, the assistant from hell, led the Mitchell boys over to the really nice resorts.

 _May we meet again,_ Willow thought with a snort. God, she sounded so serious.

Grabbing her stuff, she walked off the monorail and began looking around for her dad. It may sound childish, and she hated that she was feeling this way, but Will was hoping beyond hope that her dad would show up. Prove that he wasn't as bad as he was. Because that was all she wanted, really.

A dad.

After a hour, though, that hope had turned into waves of fury. _Goddamnit, I am such a fool!_ She thought angrily. Of course he wasn't going to show up.

Willow was going to kill her mom when she got home from this hellhole.

Seeing a Jurassic World worker nearby, she stomped over to him and exclaimed, _"You!"_

The worker jumped about a foot in the air, staring in fear at the 5'5" angry redhead in front of him.

"You are going to take me to Owen Grady's place, so I can drop off my crap. Then, you're taking me to the raptor enclosure. Understood?!"

He nodded furiously, leading the way towards the golf cart that was nearby. Once Willow was in and had a good handle on her things, the worker drove off towards her dad's bungalow. He kept on glancing at her, afraid she will explode once again.

Willow just kept on staring out in front of her, her face smooth of any emotions. On the inside, however, she was raging up a storm.

 _Dad, you are so in for it now!_

 **Thanks again for everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed Ascension! I honestly was blown away by how many people liked Willow's story, it made me so happy! To answer questions, for katmar1994, yes. Blue will remember Will because raptors are known for being highly intelligent. Even though she hasn't been to the enclosure for a while, all the raptors will remember Willow because she's basically their mommy (even though that's kind of Owen's position). Once again, thank you so much for everyone's support on Ascension! Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite if we have any new readers!**


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